KUALA LUMPUR: Up and coming divers Nurqayyum Nazmi Nazim and Yong Rui Jie are hoping to go far in the sport and are not afraid of the hard work required to achieve their goals.
The duo impressed in their maiden senior international debut at the Malaysia Open Diving Championships in Bukit Jalil earlier this month, winning bronze in the men's 3m springboard synchronised event.
Both 17, the pair are products of Kuala Lumpur's diving programme and have been training together since they were six.
Nurqayyum, whose maturity belies his age, said they still have much room for improvement.
"We will continue to work on improving ourselves. We already have the chemistry but we still need to work on our take-off and entries as well as other techniques," said Nurqayyum recently.
"Of course the dream is to win an Olympic gold medal. However, I know that it is not easy to achieve.
"I need to work harder than everyone else to win an Olympic medal.
"I've also learnt that sometimes you are down and sometimes you are on top, you always have to keep working hard to achieve something in life."
Rui Jie, who also claimed bronze in the men's 3m springboard individual event at the Malaysia Open, believes the ability to handle pressure is also key.
"The ability to handle pressure well is very important," said Rui Jie.
"If you can't deal with the pressure you will not perform well. You have to learn how to stay calm and relaxed, you have to be mentally strong."
The duo said they will be focusing on their upcoming SPM examinations over the next few months.